VENTURA : Civic Leaders Grilled by the Younger Set
About 50 Ventura teen-agers and children attended a town hall meeting with civic leaders Wednesday night to discuss everything from the problem of gangs to the city’s lack of a skateboard park.
“The event gives the youth an opportunity to give their view about what they want Ventura to become,” said Mayor Gregory L. Carson, who was host for the two-hour meeting at the Ventura Theatre.
Police, recreation and school officials got an earful. Other topics included graffiti, youth centers and school redistricting. About 125 people attended the event, more than half of whom were adults.
Krista Van Nieuwburg, a 10th-grade student at Ventura High School, said she wanted to see what the adults had to say.
“I haven’t seen them listen to us in the past,” she said. “It’s a lot different now than when they were our age. It’s more harsh now.”
The forum was structured so teen-agers and children posed the questions and officials did their best to answer them.
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